It's being called an era of forgiveness. Some of baseball's most notorious cheaters are back in business this spring, thriving in new environments and taking very little heat. The Giants rushed to the forefront by enlisting Barry Bonds as a part-time hitting coach in Arizona, but don't be fooled by their generosity.

Until further notice, this era is not for them.

In a recent conversation behind the press box at Scottsdale Stadium, team President Larry Baer sounded notes of caution when it comes to acquiring drug-tarnished players. Whatever may be happening around the game, the Giants take a more extreme view. That doesn't rule out an eventual change of heart, but for the moment, they are gravely concerned with their image and clubhouse cohesion.

"I'd say we take it on a case-by-case basis," Baer said. "We don't have a blanket policy saying we'll never touch a player that has a PED history. But I'd say that for us, it's a larger mountain to climb than others."

Bonds' recent goodwill mission, widely ridiculed by the national media, was merely an extension of an ongoing outreach process. There is talk of including Bonds on the Wall of Fame along the King Street side of AT&T Park. It took some prodding (by this column, as it happened), but three years ago, the Giants erected a "500 Club" board in deep right-center to commemorate the career home-run records of Bonds, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Mel Ott.

All the while, on occasional regular-season visits, Bonds moved comfortably through the ballpark, sat in choice field-level seats and was warmly received. Things are entirely different, in the Giants' eyes, when it comes to taking on a tainted player for full-time active duty.

In the wake of "Game of Shadows," the book that detailed the BALCO drug scandal, and other investigative reports, the Giants were revealed as a shameless disgrace in the days Bonds roamed the clubhouse with his steroid enablers, all of whom had the run of the place. Several players tied to the Giants' organization were identified as PED users in the Mitchell Report, released in 2007. And the club was roundly embarrassed two years ago when Melky Cabrera, such an integral part of its starting lineup, drew a suspension and essentially fled without fully explaining himself to teammates.

"It's one thing for our front office to be aghast about the PED thing, but in that instance, a player lost the clubhouse," Baer said. "That's a very dangerous way to go. To their credit, those guys said, 'If we go down in the playoffs, we'll go down with the guys who got us there' - and they won the whole thing. But you don't want to sign somebody and start wondering, 'Is this guy a fraud?' "

Baer mentioned no names, but I got the feeling the Giants wouldn't trade for Ryan Braun, a fallen hero in Milwaukee, under any circumstances. "With Brian (Sabean), Dick Tidrow, all the guys in the front office, they all want people with character," Baer said. "That's how we've built our clubs. A lot of guys in our clubhouse went through the Melky thing, so they're a little bit wary to begin with."

(The Giants made an exception for Michael Morse, whose reputation within the game has been solid since 2005, his rookie season with Seattle, when he drew a 10-game suspension for steroid use -- treatment, he claimed, for healing a leg injury in the minor leagues.)

So much of the game's forgiving nature surrounds older, past-their-prime types or coaches: Matt Williams (named in the Mitchell Report) managing Washington, Mark McGwire as the Dodgers' hitting coach, the Yankees' Andy Pettitte playing out the string, 43-year-old Jason Giambi still a factor in Cleveland, Bartolo Colon in the Mets' rotation at 40. When it comes to such mid-career players as Braun, Baltimore's Nelson Cruz or the Cardinals' Jhonny Peralta, the feeling among their contemporaries is hardly unanimous.

Arizona reliever Brad Ziegler called for Braun to be completely forthcoming about his drug suspension and demanded that the Hall of Fame be off-limits for any player linked to PEDs. Jonny Gomes, part of the Red Sox's championship team after moving on from Oakland, revealed to USA Today his disgust toward Peralta, signed to a four-year, $53 million contract by St. Louis after serving a 50-game suspension last year:

"This is like if somebody was to rob a bank, eventually got caught, served five years in jail, got out, but still got to keep the money. And I like Peralta. I'm not mad at the guy. It's just that when a guy like Stephen Drew is still at home (unsigned), and this guy has that contract, it's a little tough."

Now that free agency is tied to the draft - teams lose a first-round pick if they sign anyone who turned down his team's qualifying offer - it seems even less likely that the Giants will become obsessed with the market. Drew and Kendrys Morales remain unsigned, Johan Santana and Ubaldo Jimenez only recently got employment, and Cruz's case raised a gaudy red flag: Instead of accepting Texas' $14 million qualifying offer, he wound up signing with Baltimore for $8 million.

"There's just a lot of distrust," Baer said. "Qualifying offer and a PED association - that's a bad combination. Brian and I both feel very strongly about that. You're seeing teams doing anything to get someone who can help them right now, even if it means losing a first-round pick. If we operated that way, we'd have no Tim Lincecum, no Matt Cain, no Buster Posey. ... Where would we be without those guys?"

Moreover, said Baer, there's so much money in the game right now, teams are locking up their prime-of-life players - Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, Evan Longoria and Posey, to name a few - before they get a chance to test the market. "The aging ballplayer just isn't that attractive right now," said Baer. "Draft and develop your own guys, then sign 'em long term to keep them under your control. That's where the game is headed."

The real test will come down the road, when a certain player - great guy and a perfect fit for the Giants, save for an annoying drug association - becomes available via trade or free agency: the dreaded conflict between policy and temptation.